


When all is said and done

by Minne_My



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Anxiety, Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen, Hicsqueak mention, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:04:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23943880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minne_My/pseuds/Minne_My
Summary: Hecate needs a nudge to interact with Pippa & face her fright
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

She hadn't reckoned on seeing Pippa again. The whole day, her heart felt like a lump of coal in her chest. She was unusually curt to their visitor so Ada took it upon herself to check on her.

'Am I right in thinking there is some unfinished business between you and our guest?' She enquired.

Hecate froze mid pinch. She had retreated to her classroom with the excuse of preparing for lessons. She'd been concentrating so hard that she'd not heard the soft shuffle of Ada's footsteps. Now all thoughts of the potion had fled her mind.

'What makes you think that?'

Ada chuckled.

'The look on your face when I introduced her. She seemed delighted to see you but I can't say it was reciprocated.'

Hecate put the powdered frogs wart back in the jar and sighed wearily. She didn't want to be rude but…'

'I realise it is rude of me to ask but I need to know that there won't be any problems between the two of you.'

The perkier Pippa was, the more sullen Hecate became. She supposed that Ada should know.

'Pippa and I used to be friends' she started stiffly.

'I gathered that. Perhaps more than friends at some point?'

Hecate looked up in horror.

'Hecate, please credit me with some sense. I remember what it was to be young with a crush on a classmate. Many of us did. There was no harm in it.'

Ada's voice was kindly but Hecate felt like she couldn't breathe. She had thought it was her dishonourable secret. To hear Miss Cackle telling her it was normal was astounding to hear.

'I would hate for you to have felt like it is something unnatural' said Ada, taking a step towards her, expression unreadable. Hecate felt like she might die if she had given the idea that Ada had felt like their relationship was shameful. She scrambled to reassure her that it wasn't the case.

'Sometimes it is difficult to tell, given how naturally reticent you are. But I've never doubted the way you feel about me, once I realised' said Ada quietly.

'How did you know? About…Pippa?'

Ada took another step forward.

'I should think that everyone can sense the atmosphere between the two of you. And before you ask, of course I don't mind. I can't expect you to not have a history. You should know by now that I'm not a jealous person. I would rather you sorted it out before the events start so I won't have to spend the week sitting between the two of you getting crushed by the unresolved sexual tension on both sides.'

'Headmistress!'

Ada chuckled at Hecate's outraged face.

'I hope I'm joking when I say that, although it did get you to pay attention and stop looking so frightened.'

She was at her side now, hand on her arm, looking up at her with such affection that Hecate felt ashamed at the way she'd handled everything.

'Go and sort it out as soon as possible. I realise that I'm up against some stiff competition but I'm confident that I won't be wrong about the outcome.'

Hecate nodded. She had to deal with the issue so that she could stop feeling wrongfooted every time Pippa looked in her direction. She tentatively tested out her feelings towards her former unrequited crush. It wasn't anticipation that had made her heart race upon first meeting. It was fright. Fright towards confronting the past. Those feelings she had all those years ago were not there anymore. She prided herself on her self-control but was still not prepared for the pink glitter that blasted through her reserve.

'I'll leave it up to the two of you.'

Ada walked out with her parting shot, tempered with a smile.

'You won't be allowed in my bed until then.'

Game. On.

Hecate would haul the elephant out of the room with her bare hands if that's what it took.


	2. Chapter 2

Hecate could see the attraction as Pippa sashayed her way around the school. The deliveryman had blinked in delight and watched her as he stood by the kitchens with crates of ingredients that Mrs Tapioca would soon butcher in the quest to ruin mealtimes. But the initial flare of what she’d first taken as attraction turned out to be simple surprise at her transformation. Pippa had always been pretty in a schoolgirl way. But now she was curvy and erudite in all the right ways. Hecate still felt gawky beside her. Her precise rigid movements that people mocked so mercilessly was the best way of controlling the cursed clumsiness she was prone to. She’d worked hard to restructure herself and part of her irritation with students like Mildred Hubble was that lack of discipline she’d set herself. No more was she that careless ungainly child. She refused to be that again.

She hadn’t realised how transparent she was in observing her target until Ada nudged her in the ribs very slightly.

‘Go on sweet pea.’

Hecate snapped her head around. She hadn’t realised that Ada had snuck up on her.

‘Headmistress.’

‘Don’t headmistress me. Resolve this before the end of the week.’

Hecate glided over to Pippa when she saw a quiet moment. That hadn’t changed. Pippa had always attracted a crowd and always liked a spectacle. Hecate didn’t care for her flashy entrance but it had thrilled the girls who felt it _too glamorous for words_. Hecate felt uneasy and unsettled with glitter and sparkle.

‘Miss Pentangle?’ She started. She could hear the muted sniggers of the students around them. It was like being a schoolgirl again. She resolutely ignored them and focused her attention on Pippa. The other woman’s smile had changed. She used to be so guileless but now her smile had taken on a more refined angle that befitted her top to toe sophistication. Her eyes were still warm though. Hecate was glad that hadn’t changed. Ada shooed the students away to give them some privacy. They proved stubborn to shift, like that honey stain on her dressing gown.

‘Any more loitering and I will give out detentions.’

The girls gasped at the meanness of it all. Miss Cackle never gave out detentions. That was Miss Hardbroom’s job.

‘Every evening for the rest of the week spent helping Mrs Tapioca in the kitchen’ she warned. The girls scattered and she smiled in satisfaction as she powered straight on to her office to do some paperwork.

‘It’s so good to see you’ exclaimed Pippa.

‘Hmmm.’

That wasn’t a very good reply but Pippa only chuckled in response.

‘How has it been?’

‘Well…you know. Busy.’

‘Of course.’

They stood at the crossroads with nowhere to go.

‘You’ve done well in securing Pentangles. A prestigious achievement. Your pupils are a credit to you.’

Pippa had been very determined to open Pentangles to older students. 30 years ago when it was in the hands of her aunt, it had only been a primary school. Once Pippa had finished year 6, she had to transfer elsewhere and had ended up at Cackles with Hecate, a home schooled student. Now Pentangles was big enough to teach girls of all ages in the compulsory school system. It was Pippa’s biggest professional triumph, having achieved so much at a young age.

‘Thank you.’

Pippa beamed that Hecate had deigned to mention it. Like Ada, Pippa had envisioned being handed the reins of her own academy from a young age, planning life as a headmistress, confident in her birth right. She’d done a damn good job of it too.

‘You always were ambitious.’

‘I would have thought you would be too.’

Pippa looked curiously at her old school friend. Hecate thought about her answer and decided that she didn’t need to elaborate. Pippa clearly had no idea of her schoolgirl crush and didn’t need to.

‘We are drawn to what suits us in the end. Being here suits me. I am considered to be one of the best potions teachers in the history of Cackles. I am also the deputy headmistress. Is that not every bit as ambitious even though I have stayed here to achieve it? It may not be where I thought I’d be but then nothing in life is set.’

Pippa looked thoughtful.

‘I suppose not. I’d never thought of it that way. You _have_ done well for yourself.’

Hecate’s lips twitched.

‘It’s been…interesting to see you again. _Pipsqueak_.’

Pippa smiled profusely at the whispered word.

‘I never thought I’d hear that again. And you, hiccup.’

It was more than their reputation’s worth to let the students hear their once upon a time nicknames. They nodded to each other and walked on. Hecate felt her heart soar as she felt the relief wash over her. She hadn’t realised just how much she’d brooded over this fright about meeting her former crush but now it had vanished like mist over the mountains. She’d never be cosmopolitan like Pippa but she was who she was. Best of all, Ada was content with that. She never wanted to change a thing about her.

Only Ada noticed the secretive smile. Her beloved had shed another weight off her soul. Like Hercules, Hecate seemed to have a number of tasks to complete until she could…what? Atone for her sins? Blossom into her true self? Achieve enlightenment? ( _Whatever that meant, she’d read it in a book about world religions_ ) Whatever it was, Ada made sure that she was a witness to it and a support after it. Hecate had survived a lot, sparred with Agatha, faced up to the distress of what had happened with Indigo Moon. Tonight, she could collapse in Ada’s bed and sleep easier than she had done all week. She’d earned it.


End file.
